Priority is hereby claimed to German Patent Application No. 100 57 886.1, which is also hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention is directed to an angle-bar arrangement for web-processing rotary presses, in which different material-web widths are processed or produced by longitudinal slitting, either on commercial web presses or newspaper rotary presses.
French Patent Application No. 2 740 070 describes an angle-bar arrangement having openings in the angle-bar jacket which are able to close in response to pressure. In a tube-shaped member configured within the angle-bar jacket, the openings in the angle-bar jacket are positioned so as to be closable with respect to the curvature of the jacket surface by vertically movable closing elements. If a material web covering the jacket of the angle bar closes off the openings in the jacket, a counterpressure acting on the closing element builds up, causing the closing element to drive completely into the tubular member, thereby releasing the opening in question in the angle-bar jacket. As a result, an air cushion can be built up in the region in which the material web to be deflected actually covers the angle-bar jacket, so that the air cushion merely forms underneath the material web, and the openings not covered by the material web remain closed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,919 relates to a controllable angle bar device for turning a material web. Disposed within an exterior pipe, used as an angle bar and having a multiplicity of air outlet openings, is an additional pipe or zone tube. This zone tube is used as a regulating tube, and it defines an annular space with the inner side of the angle-bar jacket. The zone tube is divided into a plurality of mutually isolated zones which extend in the longitudinal direction. Provided on the zone tube within the angle bar jacket is at least one outlet opening, whose position is coordinated with the outlet openings in the angle bar jacket. In addition, a controller tube is provided, which is disposed within the zone tube, and in the circumferential direction thereof, has at least two zonal combinations of outlet openings differing from one another, and is rotatably accommodated within the zone tube.
German Patent No. 41 17 094 C2 describes a compressed air-fed angle bar for deflecting material webs in rotary presses. The ends of the angle bar are movably supported by bearing members on cross bars. Air outlet openings are situated in axial rows over the periphery of the hollow formed angle bar at defined spacings. Configured so as to be supported independently from one another in the hollow space of the angle bar are two adjusting spindles, which, over their entire length, have an air duct for supplying compressed air to the hollow space of the angle bars. Each of the adjusting spindles carries a non-rotatable piston, which is axially displaceable by way of the adjusting spindles by a remote-controlled actuator. Configured so as to extend radially in each piston are air outlet openings, which extend at a defined spacing to one another in axial rows of different lengths, the axial rows being radially offset from one another and being coordinated in their positions with the corresponding air outlet openings in the jacket of the angle bar.
An approach is also known where manually adjustable membrane sections are accommodated at individual outlet openings on the inside of the angle bars. The membrane sections can be set back into the inside of the angle bar by pins extending through the jacket of the angle bar, or be so positioned that they close the air outlet openings in the jacket of the angle bar. The membrane sections can cover either one or a plurality of side-by-side outlet openings in the angle-bar jacket. This approach requires that printer personnel climb into the angle-bar superstructure, and either close or open the appropriate number of outlet openings in the angle-bar jacket at each individual angle bar, depending on the material web width running thereon. If one of the adjustable membrane sections fails, the entire angle bar must be disassembled, and all membrane sections must be restored.
In view of the described, to some extent very costly technical approaches, an object of the present invention is to set a precisely defined zone on an angle bar where compressed air of a low pressure level will flow out.
The present invention provides an angle-bar arrangement for deflecting material webs in a rotary press comprising an angle-bar jacket (1), which is provided with a plurality of air outlet openings (2). Closing elements (6), which are provided in the air outlet openings and can seal off the air outlet openings (2), are able to move, and compressed air is fed into a hollow space of the angle-bar jacket (1), which is delimited by the movable closing elements (6). The closing elements (6) are guided via rails in the angle-bar jacket (1) and are mutually independently movable by actuators (18, 20).
The advantages that are attainable using the approach of the present invention are evident above all in that a remotely controlled, precise adjustment of the air outlet zone is now possible, i.e., the position of the air cushion underneath a material web may now be exactly specified in adjustable fashion. In addition, the piston settings may be controlled remotely, eliminating the need for personnel to climb into the angle-bar superstructure. The air cushion may be adjusted at the angle-bar jackets, within the framework of the presetting, as a function of the material web width to be processed that results in the rotary press. An additional benefit is derived in that, by precisely adapting the closing element which, at any one time, seals off the air outlet openings not needed in the angle-bar jacket, to the inner contour of the angle-bar jacket, a high degree of seal tightness of the angle-bar jacket may be achieved with respect to the closing elements which are movable in this jacket. This signifies less faulty outflow of air and, thus, a better engineered supplying of compressed air to the angle-bar jackets. Moreover, since the closing elements, which traverse on rails in the angle-bar hollow space, are each able to be driven separately, the material web running on the angle-bar jacket does not necessarily have to do so on the center of the angle bar. Mutually independently drivable closing elements make it possible to set contact-free running of the material webs at any desired location on the periphery of the angle bars, i.e., no limits are set to the running of a material web about the angle-bar jacket with respect to the central position of the web.
One variant of the idea underlying the present invention provides the closing elements of the angle-bar arrangement to be driven on driving spindles. The driving spindles may be accommodated in the hollow space of the angle-bar arrangement, extending axially to the angle-bar length.
The compressed-air line that ensures the compressed-air supply to the hollow space of the angle-bar arrangement may advantageously be placed in one of the closing elements which traverse along rails in the angle-bar hollow space. For this purpose, a compressed-air line may be screwed into the bore hole of the movable closing element, while, a sealing element may be set in at the diametrically opposed closing element within the angle-bar hollow space, to seal off its bore hole.
Secured above the angle-bar sleeve to seal off the same from compressed air losses that arise, is a plate-shaped sealing surface that extends over the axial extent of the angle bars.
In another variant of an embodiment of the idea underlying the present invention, the closing elements guided along rails within the hollow space of the angle-bar jacket may be driven axially within the hollow space of the angle-bar jacket by spindle heads which are actuated independently of one another by driving spindles. In this variant of an embodiment, the driving of the closing elements within the hollow space is not the result of direct action on the closing elements, rather the driving action may be transmitted via permanent magnets arranged in the spindle heads to the closing elements which are movable within the hollow pace of the angle-bar jacket. For this, permanent magnets, which cooperate with the magnets of the spindle heads, are set in the closing-element surfaces facing the spindle heads, the closing elements being movable within the hollow space of the angle-bar configuration. These permanent magnets are preferably able to be enclosed in recesses formed on the top side of the movable closing elements, resulting in a smooth surface on the movable closing element.
To ensure a precise guidance of the spindle heads, which are each assigned to one closing element that is able to slide within the hollow space of the angle bars, each spindle head is provided with a plane contact surface at its side facing the movable closing element. The lateral guidance of the spindle heads, whose threaded section is penetrated by driving spindles configured above the angle-bar jacket, is ensured by guide rails which may be accommodated at the side of the surface that seals off the hollow space of the angle-bar jacket. The rail-type guide elements include a projection which extends beyond the lateral guide surface of the spindle heads, ensuring that the plane surfaces of the movable spindle heads are always guided in cant-free manner on the top side of the sealing surface covering the hollow space of the angle-bar jacket. In this variant of an embodiment, the independent drives of the adjusting spindles for the spindle heads provided with permanent magnets are able to be positioned outside of the hollow space of the angle-bar jacket, e.g., on its top side.
The angle bars designed in accordance with the present invention having mutually independently movable closing elements in the hollow space of the angle bar jacket may preferably be installed on angle-bar superstructures of commercial web presses or newspaper rotary presses. In this context, it is unimportant whether the angle bars according to the present invention are designed to be supported in a stationary mount, or whether their angular position may be varied within the angle-bar superstructure, or whether they are accommodated on movable slide rails in side walls of the angle-bar superstructure.